10 October 2013
I found StumbleUpon to be a very entertaining, yet educational website. I liked how I was able to select multiple interests and a different website from one my selected categories would pop up with each Stumble. Social bookmarking on a website like StumbleUpon can be great because your interest categories will be narrowed down smaller and smaller. On a search engine like Google or Yahoo however, social bookmarking can lead to a filtration in searches that will only allow people to see what they are already interested in, and topics that are outside of normal for said person could become unattainable.While on StumbleUpon, I search the topic "Surfing" which has fast become one of my favorite activities. I was able to find breath-taking photographs, incredible videos, and interesting articles. StumbleUpon is a great way to research a topic and also find links to other websites. If you stumble upon a website that you find helpful, you can bookmark it and it is saved to your profile. I would definitely suggest this fun and interesting search engine to friends and anyone else for that matter. 9 October 2013Social Bookmarking is when a website tracks a person's most accessed sites and webpages and in return personalizes said person's searches based on what they typically view on the internet.Part 1:1. Delicious - This social bookmarking site is one that can be used to not only discover new links on the web, but also save and organize the links that are found. 2. Reddit - Reddit is a website that is similar to search engines such as Google or Yahoo, but it allows the searcher to narrow down their topic more specifically. 3. StumbleUpon - This is a fun website that I actually have spent a lot of time on in the past. StumbleUpon allows one to chooses from dozens of different topics, and with just a click of a button, a new website that has to do with one of the interests will appear. 4. Diigo - Diigo is a website that allows for the researcher to annotate on a webpage and also organize websites into different sections in a folder.5. Digg - Digg is a website that displays links to different news sources. It also provides an opportunity to share bookmarked sites with friends. 6. Newsvine - Similar to Digg, Newsvine shows dozens of different news webpages, and allows links to further investigate each news headline.Part 2:1. iCyte - iCyte is a website that is similar in many ways to Diigo, but it provides the ability to annotate on webpages.2. Rooh.It - Rooh.It is designed for highlighting information on websites and also also sharing information that is found.3. Trailmeme - This website is designed for viewer interface and it creates a unique path for a user to follow.4. Jog the Web - Jog the Web is a more user friendly version of Trailmeme5. Pinboard - This website is designed to work well with mobile devices. It allows users to bookmark without a lot of clutter like on other websites6. School Noodle - School Noodle is a great website for teachers in particular. They can bookmark pages and share them with their fellow employees.7. Krunched - Krunched is unique in that one can take a group of different sites and create one URL that all of the sites can be found under.Study Skills:1. The first study skills website that I liked was Khan Academy. Khan has a variety of videos on practically any subject that you could think of. I have used his instructional videos in the past to help with my schoolwork on topics that I do not understand. The work that Khan does to help teach on all different levels is truly inspirational, and I would surely recommend his work to my friends of all ages.2. Mathway is another study site that I have gotten a lot of use out of in my math classes in high school. If there is ever a problem that I get stumped on in a homework assignment, I know that I can go to Mathway and get not only the answer to any question, but also an explanation for how the answer was acquired. I would recommend this helpful site to a friend for sure, but I would also warn them to make sure that they use Mathway to learn how to do problems, not just get an answer.3. Shmoop is another website that has been very helpful in my educational success. It provides not only explanations to problems and summaries of books, but also practice questions for all sorts of tests, including the SAT and ACT. Practice questions for the SAT is where this website truly helped me, and I would definitely recommend Shmoop to anyone who is trying to prepare for college entrance exams. 5 October 2013 1. Studying while on Facebook is never a good idea; it makes sense that students that do would have 20% lower grades. It is interesting that some classes use Twitter, I have never had a class that did.2. Facebook is a very good way to create groups and get involved in extracurricular activities, I have done plenty of this myself. However, too much time on Facebook can lead to struggles in the work force.3. Social media is pointless without friends, that's the whole reason that it is called "SOCIAL" media!4. Social Media can become extremely addictive, and once one is cut off they will crave it. Facebook is like a drug to some people, which is sad.5. I agree with the verdict on Facebook and self esteem. Updating a Facebook status can be beneficial to one's confidence, but too much updating can lead to self absorption and cockiness.6. It is true that ditching Facebook will help in study efficiency. There are not any real benefits to using Facebook while studying. 24 September 2013 1. The Adventures of Captain Underpants - Seeing this book on the list of banned books really surprised me. I read the all of the Captain Underpants books when I was younger, and I always enjoyed them very much. I can understand why they would be banned though; throughout the books there were always numerous misspellings of words.2. Seeing the book To Kill a Mockingbird on this list is a true shocker, because this Harper Lee novel is considered a classic in American Literature. A school banning this book because of its racial themes is absurd because the whole story line is about racism. This is a book that has won multiple awards, and can really teach kids lessons. In my opinion, To Kill a Mockingbird belongs in every school.3. Perks of Being a Wallflower is a book that definitely needs to be handled by a mature student, because it addresses topics such as homosexuality and suicide. I can understand why it would be banned, even though it is a very good book. 16 September 2013 9 September 2013 The John Green video on going back to school was very interesting. Green is a man who is obviously full of knowledge, and he shares his information in a very interesting way. It is obvious that he cares a lot about education, and even though he says that he doesn't have a kid in school, he still cares so much about public education because today's students are the ones that will this country in the future. One interesting quote that I pulled from this video that really stuck out to me is "The whole pleasure of being a human is in being stupid, but learning to be less stupid together." This shows how even though some kids think that their teachers are "stupid" or that they are "stupid", that through receiving an education, everyone can learn more and become "less stupid together."
17 October 2013Bookface Contest: Beauty Queens (By: Libba Bray)
10 October 2013
I found StumbleUpon to be a very entertaining, yet educational website. I liked how I was able to select multiple interests and a different website from one my selected categories would pop up with each Stumble. Social bookmarking on a website like StumbleUpon can be great because your interest categories will be narrowed down smaller and smaller. On a search engine like Google or Yahoo however, social bookmarking can lead to a filtration in searches that will only allow people to see what they are already interested in, and topics that are outside of normal for said person could become unattainable.While on StumbleUpon, I search the topic "Surfing" which has fast become one of my favorite activities. I was able to find breath-taking photographs, incredible videos, and interesting articles. StumbleUpon is a great way to research a topic and also find links to other websites. If you stumble upon a website that you find helpful, you can bookmark it and it is saved to your profile. I would definitely suggest this fun and interesting search engine to friends and anyone else for that matter.
9 October 2013Social Bookmarking is when a website tracks a person's most accessed sites and webpages and in return personalizes said person's searches based on what they typically view on the internet.Part 1:1. Delicious - This social bookmarking site is one that can be used to not only discover new links on the web, but also save and organize the links that are found. 2. Reddit - Reddit is a website that is similar to search engines such as Google or Yahoo, but it allows the searcher to narrow down their topic more specifically. 3. StumbleUpon - This is a fun website that I actually have spent a lot of time on in the past. StumbleUpon allows one to chooses from dozens of different topics, and with just a click of a button, a new website that has to do with one of the interests will appear. 4. Diigo - Diigo is a website that allows for the researcher to annotate on a webpage and also organize websites into different sections in a folder.5. Digg - Digg is a website that displays links to different news sources. It also provides an opportunity to share bookmarked sites with friends. 6. Newsvine - Similar to Digg, Newsvine shows dozens of different news webpages, and allows links to further investigate each news headline.Part 2:1. iCyte - iCyte is a website that is similar in many ways to Diigo, but it provides the ability to annotate on webpages.2. Rooh.It - Rooh.It is designed for highlighting information on websites and also also sharing information that is found.3. Trailmeme - This website is designed for viewer interface and it creates a unique path for a user to follow.4. Jog the Web - Jog the Web is a more user friendly version of Trailmeme5. Pinboard - This website is designed to work well with mobile devices. It allows users to bookmark without a lot of clutter like on other websites6. School Noodle - School Noodle is a great website for teachers in particular. They can bookmark pages and share them with their fellow employees.7. Krunched - Krunched is unique in that one can take a group of different sites and create one URL that all of the sites can be found under.Study Skills:1. The first study skills website that I liked was Khan Academy. Khan has a variety of videos on practically any subject that you could think of. I have used his instructional videos in the past to help with my schoolwork on topics that I do not understand. The work that Khan does to help teach on all different levels is truly inspirational, and I would surely recommend his work to my friends of all ages.2. Mathway is another study site that I have gotten a lot of use out of in my math classes in high school. If there is ever a problem that I get stumped on in a homework assignment, I know that I can go to Mathway and get not only the answer to any question, but also an explanation for how the answer was acquired. I would recommend this helpful site to a friend for sure, but I would also warn them to make sure that they use Mathway to learn how to do problems, not just get an answer.3. Shmoop is another website that has been very helpful in my educational success. It provides not only explanations to problems and summaries of books, but also practice questions for all sorts of tests, including the SAT and ACT. Practice questions for the SAT is where this website truly helped me, and I would definitely recommend Shmoop to anyone who is trying to prepare for college entrance exams.
5 October 2013
1. Studying while on Facebook is never a good idea; it makes sense that students that do would have 20% lower grades. It is interesting that some classes use Twitter, I have never had a class that did.2. Facebook is a very good way to create groups and get involved in extracurricular activities, I have done plenty of this myself. However, too much time on Facebook can lead to struggles in the work force.3. Social media is pointless without friends, that's the whole reason that it is called "SOCIAL" media!4. Social Media can become extremely addictive, and once one is cut off they will crave it. Facebook is like a drug to some people, which is sad.5. I agree with the verdict on Facebook and self esteem. Updating a Facebook status can be beneficial to one's confidence, but too much updating can lead to self absorption and cockiness.6. It is true that ditching Facebook will help in study efficiency. There are not any real benefits to using Facebook while studying.
24 September 2013
1. The Adventures of Captain Underpants - Seeing this book on the list of banned books really surprised me. I read the all of the Captain Underpants books when I was younger, and I always enjoyed them very much. I can understand why they would be banned though; throughout the books there were always numerous misspellings of words.2. Seeing the book To Kill a Mockingbird on this list is a true shocker, because this Harper Lee novel is considered a classic in American Literature. A school banning this book because of its racial themes is absurd because the whole story line is about racism. This is a book that has won multiple awards, and can really teach kids lessons. In my opinion, To Kill a Mockingbird belongs in every school.3. Perks of Being a Wallflower is a book that definitely needs to be handled by a mature student, because it addresses topics such as homosexuality and suicide. I can understand why it would be banned, even though it is a very good book.
16 September 2013
9 September 2013
The John Green video on going back to school was very interesting. Green is a man who is obviously full of knowledge, and he shares his information in a very interesting way. It is obvious that he cares a lot about education, and even though he says that he doesn't have a kid in school, he still cares so much about public education because today's students are the ones that will this country in the future. One interesting quote that I pulled from this video that really stuck out to me is "The whole pleasure of being a human is in being stupid, but learning to be less stupid together." This shows how even though some kids think that their teachers are "stupid" or that they are "stupid", that through receiving an education, everyone can learn more and become "less stupid together."